Conveying apron



Sept. 18, 1934. J, NQQNAN 1,974,120

CONVEYING APRON Filed April 12. 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 18, 1934, J. A. NOONAN 1,974,120

7 CONVEYING APRON Filed April 12, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 a jwucwtm ZR/V7 0 nan Gum/MA;

Patented Sept. 18, 1 934 UNITED STATES PATENT 1,974,120 CONVEYING APRON ApplicationApril 12, 1934, Serial No. 720,331

Claims.

This invention relates to conveyors and particularly to conveyors designed for supporting wool or the like material while it is passing through a dryer, though it isto be understood 5 that I do not wish to be limited to this application of the conveyor as it might be used for a large variety of different materials.

Conveyors of this character are from six to eight feet wide and formed of sections and as a consequence the meeting ends of the screen sections of the conveyor must be supported against sagging or deformation and at the same time must be so formed as to permit the ready discharge of the material and prevent material catching in the joint between the screens and they must be also so formed as to prevent the discharge of material through between the screens while the conveyor is traveling in an approximately horizontal plane.

One of the objects of this invention, therefore, is to provide for proper support of the forward and rear edges of each screen section so that the screen section will not sag at its forward or rear edges under the weight of material thereon and more specifically to support the forward and rear margins of the screen sections by girts while the conveyor is in a load-supporting position, without the necessity of using two girts to each screen section and without the necessity of connecting the screen sections to each other by transverse pivot pins or other equivalent connections.

More specifically the object of the invention is to provide a conveyor formed of links and screen sections, the rear end of each screen section being supported by a girt and the forward end of each screen section projecting beyond and overlapping the screen section in advance so that this forward end, under load, is supported by the girt-supported end of the previous screen section.

Another object of the invention is to so form the forward edge of each screen section which overlaps the rear end of an adjacent section, that (or. 19s-'-194) My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings; wherein:-

Figure -l is a longitudinal sectional view through a conveyor constructed in accordance with my invention;

. Figure 2 is a section on the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the wire screen by itself;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the leading edge of this screen;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal section but showing the action of the conveyor when two sections are in angular relation to each other;

Figure 6 is a fragmentarytop plan view of the structure shown in Figure 1.

Referring to these drawings, it will be seen that the conveyor includes pairs of parallel links, on each side of the conveyor. The inner links are designated 10 and the outer links 11. These links are disposed with the ends of one pair of links between the adjacent end of the next adjacent pair of links and disposed between these links at the pivotal connections thereof are the rollers 12, these rollers being held by pivot pins 13 of any suitable construction.

Disposed between opposed pairs of links are the screen sections 14 of woven wire. Riveted to the innerlinks 10 by rivets 1 1 are the angle irons 15 which are shorter than the links and shorter than the sections of wire screen 14, the horizontal flanges of these angle irons 15 extending over the lateral margins of the woven wire sections 14. Disposed between the angle irons 15 and the under face of each section 14 is a rigid strip of iron designated 16, each strip being slightly longer than the corresponding angle iron 15 and extending forwardly and rearwardly beneath this angle iron. The rear end of this strip is angularly bent downward and forward as at 17 this angular bend being approximately coincident with the pivotal centers of the rollers 12 and the links 10 and 11.

Riveted or otherwisev attached to the downwardly extending ends 1'7 of the opposed strips 16 is a transverse girt 18 which terminates short of the inner links 10. The woven wire 14 of each section at its rear end is angularly bent at 19 and brought flat against this transverse girt l8 and is held thereto at a plurality of points by rivets 20, these rivets also acting to hold the angular ends 17 of each of the strips 16 to the girt. Any number of intermediate rivets 20 may be disposed in the length of the girt 18 also. Bolts 21 pass through the angle irons 15, through the longitudinal irons or strips 16 and through the horizontal flanges of upstanding wings 22 carried on the upper face of the conveyor, there being one of these wings 22 on each side of each conveyor section, the wings 22 having rounded ends 23 projecting slightly beyond the sections and overlapping the rounded ends 23 of the next adjacent wings 22 of the next adjacent sections.

It will be seen by reference to Figure 1 that the forward end of one screen 14 overlaps the rear end of the next adjacent screen and that as the conveyor moves around the usual sprocket wheels on which the conveyor is carried and which engage the links, that the joint between the sections of screen 14, will be broken but that so long as the screen is moving in a straight plane, as for instance a horizontal plane, the forward section of one conveyor screen will overlap the rear section of the next adjacent screen, as shown in Figures 1 and 5.

As shown in Figure 4, the forward section of each screen section 14 has its selvage edge reinforced by a relatively heavy wire24 and by a plurality of wires 25 placed'closely adjacent to each other and extending transversely over andunder the warp wires of the screen so as to form a reinforced selvage edge for that portion of the screen section which overlaps the next adjacent section. It will furthermore be noted from Figure 3 that each screen section at its rear end is also reinforced in the same manner.

It is to be particularly noted that the screen sections are not pivotally connected to each other, nor do the edges of the screen sections abut against each other but that these screen sections overlap so that while the screen sections are moving in a horizontal plane, there will be no possible chance ofmaterial passing downward through or getting entangled with these overlapping edges of the screen sections. At the same time, these sections are so reinforced that there will be no chance of the sections bending or being deformed at their overlapping ends. Furthermore, the closely woven selvage edge which fits down against the girt 18 is so closely woven as to permit rivets or the like to be passed through the girt and through the selvage edge and hold the screen firmly in place against the girt.-

A conveyor constructed in accordance with this invention can be very cheaply made and is 'particularly strong. It must be remembered that these sections are from six to eight feet wide in conveyors of the character described and that by supporting the rear margin of each screen section upon the girt 18, the screen section at this end is prevented from sagging downward while by reinforcing the forward selvage edge, as described, this end of the screen is prevented from sagging downward, this being prevented also by the fact that the reinforced selvage edge of one screen section in actual use rests upon, though it is not connected to, the girt-supported rear end of the next succeeding screen section. Thus, though the screen sections are not connected to each other,

yet these screen sections are amply supported both at their forward and rear ends against any tendency to sag without the necessity of using two girts at both ends of each screen section and without the necessity of connecting the screen sections by transverse pivots.

While I have illustrated certain details of con-- struction and arrangements of parts, I do not wish to be limited thereto as obviously minor changes might be made in details without de-. parting from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A screen conveyor including two side chains, each composed of outer and inner links pivoted to each other and carrying rollers at their pivotal connections, screen sections disposed between the opposed pairs of links, metallic strips disposed on each side 0f the side margins of each screen section, angle irons attached to the inner linksof each side, fastening members passing through the horizontal webs of the angle irons through the metallic strips and through the lateral margins of the screen sections, one end of each strip being angularly bent, a transverse girt attached to the angularly bent ends of the strips and disposed approximately in line with the pivotal axes of the links, the screen sections at their rear ends being angularly bent to bear against the rear face of the corresponding girt and being attached thereto, the opposite end of each screen section extending beyond and overlapping the upper face of the rear end of the screen section in advance but being unattached thereto, this forward end of each screen section being reinforced.

2. A conveyor including side chains formed of links pivoted to each other, the links having laterally projecting longitudinally extending flanges, conveyor sectionsdisposed between-the links, transversely extending girts disposed between the links of the chains but entirely disconnected from said chains, the girts being disposed in approximate alinement with the pivotal centers of the links, longitudinal elements connected to and supporting the lateral margins of the conveyor sections and attached to and supporting the ends of the girts, and means detachably connecting said elements to the laterally projecting flanges of the links, each pair of longitudinally extending elements, the corresponding girt and the corresponding conveyor section being removable as a unit from between the chains.

3. A conveyor of the character described, including side chains formed of links, pivots connecting the links and terminating at the inner faces of the side chains, members carried by the links and extending laterally inward therefrom, longitudinally extending strips resting upon the members and each having an angular end portion approximating the transverse pivotal axis of a pair of links, girts extending across the space between the chains and each connected at its opposite ends to the corresponding angular portions of corresponding strips and conveyor sections, each section having its side margins supported by said strips, and means connecting'the sections to the strips and the strips to the members.

4. A conveyor of the character described including side chains formed of links pivoted to each other, and a plurality of screen sections disposed between the chains, each screensection having supporting and reinforcing members rigidly connected therewith, each screen section and its supporting members constituting a unit, being independent of and disconnected from the next adjacent screen sections, and means detachably connecting each unit to the corresponding links of the side chains, each unit being removable as a unit from between the links independently of any other unit.

5. A screen conveyor including side chains Fish] formed of links pivoted to each other, the pivots I.

the screen section at the rear end of each screen v of each screen section extending beyond and overlapping the girt-supported end of the next section in advance, the girt of one screen section and the corresponding screen section being entirely independent of and disconnected from the girt of the next adjacent screen section.

JAMES A. NOONAN. 

